


Merlin's Tale (or the modern Storyteller's remix of Inside Outright)

by tetsubinatu



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, POV Outsider, Remix, Slash, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-10
Updated: 2010-10-10
Packaged: 2017-10-12 13:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/125542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tetsubinatu/pseuds/tetsubinatu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a tale of something that happened not so long ago, and not so far away, but listen closely for there may be a test...</p><p>The boy's name was Merlin. He was born to great things, my friends, but none of those around him knew it - except his mother, but who listens to a mother when she speaks of the many wonders of her child? To hear her he was all but sainted - pure of heart and soul, beautiful to look upon and talented beyond compare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merlin's Tale (or the modern Storyteller's remix of Inside Outright)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Remixing is always a challenge! In the end I couldn't find a complementary piece to write, as I had originally intended, so I went for an entirely different approach! I hope you enjoy it.

This is a tale of something that happened not so long ago, and not so far away, but listen closely for there may be a test...

The boy's name was Merlin. He was born to great things, my friends, but none of those around him knew it - except his mother, but who listens to a mother when she speaks of the many wonders of her child? To hear her he was all but sainted - pure of heart and soul, beautiful to look upon and talented beyond compare.

Like every other mother's son, in other words.

So Merlin grew up in a city not unlike this one with his best friend, whose name was Will.

Yes, _Will_ , I said. It's not a name of destiny is it? It doesn't ring with ancient power or god-given strength. It's a name with a certain stubborn earthiness to it, though, just like the boy who bore it - for Will was Merlin's best friend, as I have said, and as they grew to manhood they became even more than that.

Oh, don't look at me like that! Do you seriously tell me that you live here, in the great metropolis, and you have never heard of love between two handsome and strong-willed young men? Leave, if you must, for the rest of us know better, don't we? Two pretty young men in the freshness of their youth, striving together in love - what could be sweeter?

Yes, yes, two pretty women or a mixed set of boy and girl.

A threesome? Oh someone's feeling adventurous tonight, my friend!

As it may be, these two devoted friends became more than friends and for a short time they were very happy. Until, one summer's day, Merlin trusted Will with something that he shouldn't have. He showed him, of his own free will and for no other reason than love, his greatest secret: Merlin was a sorcerer.

At first Will refused to believe it, and then when he believed it he became angry that Merlin had kept this secret from him for so long, and then finally he became afraid, forgetting all the sweetness that was in Merlin and thinking only of what Will himself might have done with unlimited power, for Will was ever hasty of temper and quick to say and do things which he later regretted - or should have regretted.

As indeed he did this time, driving Merlin from his door with words that could not be forgiven, nor forgotten. Merlin did not look back, for he had his pride, but I believe that Will did come to regret his actions that day. I cannot prove it though, for they never met again in this lifetime.

Driven from his lover's arms, Merlin left his home to begin again in a new city where his quick smile and sweet nature made him many friends, yet there was always a barrier between him and them. Merlin had kept his magic secret all his youth in deference to his mother's wishes, but now he kept it secret because he knew it was a taint which lay upon him, a foulness which would repel even those who loved him. Now the secret pressed on him as never before and he wondered what the purpose of his life could be, burdened with such a weight.

His mother said he was pure of heart and soul, beautiful to look upon and talented beyond compare, but she never said that he was all that bright. After all, it never occurred to Merlin that Will could have been wrong.

So what does a young man in despair _do_ in a great city? Why yes, indeed my friends, you are quite correct: he gets drunk and has foolish sex with a stranger. I don't know why I'm bothering to tell this tale when any one of you could do it for me!

One day Merlin's workmate, Gwen, lost all patience with his moping and since her own lover was away for the week she decided to take Merlin out on the town for a little _joie de vivre_. Not too much, mind, for she knew all too well that Merlin was liable to behave foolishly in his cups - just a little music and lively company. Unfortunately she became distracted at the wrong moment - a very handsome young man with the longest eyelashes can have that effect - and when she turned around, Merlin was gone.

Merlin had met his destiny.

Which was rather lucky, because if his destiny had arrived even five minutes later Merlin would have met a rather nasty piece of work named Cedric and ended up with a persistent venereal disease and even lower self esteem. As it was, however, he met Arthur Pendragon.

Now there's a hero's name for you: Arthur! It can sound like a clap of thunder or a whispered prayer. Much better than Will. Arthur was blond with the sort of broad chest that maidens like to faint upon and a chin that was a pretty blatant invitation to kissing. He was also bored and spoilt and a little bit lost and lonely. He saw Merlin across a crowded room and... I said Merlin was good to look upon, didn't I? But he was also a little bit lost and lonely, and sometimes like calls to like, even in a nightclub.

So Arthur..., well there's no way to pretty it up really, he took Merlin into a toilet stall - a _clean_ toilet stall - and they had frankly rather marvellous semi-anonymous sex. You don't want all the prurient details, I'm sure. Lalala, I'm not listening to you! Just imagine some really hot, if rather quick, toilet-stall sex. If you haven't had any, take your lover out for the night and have a go some time; it can be quite a fun experience. See: most of you are nodding; _you_ know!

Afterwards, when they were sated and sticky and Arthur, at least, was beginning to wonder about the state of his garments, Merlin began to cry. And instead of slipping out of the stall and running away like any normal man would, Arthur stayed and comforted him. Arthur can't explain it either. Really, it must be destiny. Arthur heard all about Will, and then Merlin even showed him a little bit of magic.

I told you that Arthur was a hero: unlike Will - who had every reason to trust and love Merlin but didn't - Arthur, who had never met him before, saw only Merlin's sweetness in the palm of his hand.

The clock chimed midnight and Merlin sprang to his feet...

Sorry, sorry - wrong story.

A bathroom stall is not the place where anyone expects to find true love - although more than one person has done so - and so when Merlin heard Gwen calling he left Arthur with scarcely a backward glance, and Arthur could not muster his scattered wits fast enough to prevent him. He hoped that Merlin would be back again, but the days passed and Merlin didn't return.

Arthur didn't have a glass slipper - all he had was a single name - and the city was large and uncaring. Merlin disappeared into it without trace.

Until...

Arthur had a sister named Morgana - have I told you about her? Remind me to do so, she's worth a story of her own. Morgana performed the duties any good sister does - keeping her brother from becoming overly self-important, drawing attention to any overlooked duties and so on and so forth, and because they were all each other had she occasionally fed him as well.

Morgana also had a friend and co-worker named Gwen, and since the name Gwen is not uncommon - certainly not as uncommon as Merlin, for instance - Arthur had unaccountably overlooked the possibility...

Well, to cut to the chase, Morgana's Gwen was also Merlin's Gwen. And since Merlin had told Gwen - and then all the rest of his fascinated co-workers - _everything_ (except the magic - never the magic) about his ecstatic and yet ultimately humiliating experience in a certain bathroom stall...

Aha - you may well laugh, but which of _you_ would like your sisters to know about your nightclub indiscretions? Yes, now I can see a little more sympathy on your faces! Well, it is funny - I have to admit it. Poor Arthur, torn between elation at having found Merlin and mortification at his sister's description of that night as 'the stupidest thing Merlin ever did'.

It helped that Merlin said his cock was larger than Will's though. These details matter to a man.

Shall I describe the lovers' meeting? I'm afraid it's not as romantic as, say, Heathcliff and Cathy on the moors. Arthur wasn't terribly impressed with Merlin's tiny, cabbage-scented dwelling, but Merlin really was as pure of heart and soul, beautiful to look upon (and talented beyond compare) as his mother thought he was, and Arthur knew that for some reason beyond his own comprehension he really couldn't live without him. He didn't know it was destiny. So he invited Merlin on a date and Merlin accepted.

Not long after that they had lots more really wonderful sex in a bed (which was mindblowingly _even hotter_ than fabulous not-quite-anonymous sex in a toilet stall and also Merlin didn't cry afterwards). And then they lived happily ever after.

Yes, yes, they probably adopted Somalian babies; I don't know. Merlin was the sort who would, though, and Arthur never could say No to Merlin - or at least, he could never make it stick when he did.

Oh yes - and they got around to doing the great things for which they were destined. Eventually. Ask me again some other time.


End file.
